The Franco-American Flophouse: FATCA Lawsuit Filed in the Federal Court of Canada

Victoria Ferauge, an American expatriate in Paris and active on the FATCA issue, commenting on the Canadian court case (see Virginia Hillis, Gwendolyn Deegan sue Ottawa over new FATCA tax rules):

And here we finally come to the Canadian lawsuit.  The plaintiffs claim that FATCA as it is being implemented in Canada violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which among other things, shields Canadian citizens from unreasonable search and seizures and assures equal protection/non-discrimination in the application of the law. Ginny and Gwen, two very courageous women, are “Accidental Americans”.   They were born in the US but have lived in Canada most of their lives and they not willing to be reduced to semi-citizenship in Canada.  They are Canadian, they live in Canada, and US status should make no difference whatsoever in what rights they have under Canadian law.  Period.

If you wish to argue otherwise, please think hard about the implications of that.  Could a law made in Mexico that violates the rights of Mexican-Americans under the US Constitution be nevertheless applied to them with the blessing nay, the full participation and enforcement of the US government?   And it is all the more troubling when one sees all the situations where individuals do contest the attribution of citizenship  without their consent by a country they dont live in and dont consider themselves to have duties and responsibilities to. All dual citizens everywhere in the world should pay close attention to how this shakes out.

If any of you out there are interested in supporting this cause there are a couple of ways you can help.  Ginny and Gwen have really gone out on a limb here by going public and they could use your moral support.  You can send them a note here.   Another, of course, is through a donation which you can make here.

The Franco-American Flophouse: FATCA Lawsuit Filed in the Federal Court of Canada.